I may have the opportunity to trade for a rifle on a SGW lower and would like to know if there is anyway to determine if it was shipped as a rifle. I am aware of the fire at Olympic Arms.
According to the Oly website they have no way
of telling if it was shipped stripped or complete. From what I've read here, in a court of law it would be the responsibility of the owner of the rifle to prove that it was preban.
If Oly has no records other than dates of manufacture would this be impossible?

"From what I've read here, in a court of law it would be the responsibility of the owner of the rifle to prove that it was preban."
Not in America as far as I know. A letter from the owner would protect you if you're paranoid.

Think carefully about this one. You are the one who will pay the price if there is a problem, so any free advice you get is worth a lot less than you pay for it if it comes to that. Chances are it'll never be an issue, but if it is, it's your ass on the line.
Depends really, on how risk averse you are, and how much of a paper trail there is on the lower. If you haven't, try this list for serial numbers:
[url]http://www.ar15.com/articles/article.html?Article=23[/url]

I actually called the ATF quite a few times about this. From what I was told, the ATF has some records from Olympic because they went to the factory right after the ban. But even they don't have a complete list.
I was concerned about this as well, so I got a letter from the guy who bought it from a guy who had it as a rifle since the 80's. Good enough for me.
See, it's not that it had to be shipped as a rifle, just that it had to be built into a rifle prior to the 94 ban.
In other words, all that had to happen to it prior the ban is that a upper receiver had to be slapped on it before the ban.
Say what you want about the burden being up to you to prove it was assembled prior to the ban.
In reality, they would need some kind of proof that it wasn't to arrest you to begin with. Other wise they could just arrest everyone with a preban (including Bushmaster and Colt) they came across, forcing them to get lawyers to "prove" it was a preban in court via the serial numbers.
And I have yet to see any evidence f anyone even slightly fucked with by the ATF in relation to a "questionable" Olympic lower.
And there are THOUSANDS of people selling, and possesing them.
Many of them on this board (me included).
Ultimately it's your call. But if manufactured in the 80's, I wouldn't worry about it.